7th seed Belinda Bencic locks horns with Viktoriya Tomova in the round of 32 of the 2023 Qatar Open on Tuesday.
The Olympic gold medalist has been in exemplary form this season. She has already added two titles to her trophy cabinet and the season has just started.
In the Adelaide International 2, Bencic won her first title of the season. She defeated Garbine Muguruza, Anna Kalinskaya, Caroline Garcia, and Daria Kasatkina in the competition. Bencic made it to the fourth round at the Australian Open before losing to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka. The Swiss star won her second title of the season in the recently-concluded Abu Dhabi Open. In the tournament, she defeated Marta Kostyuk, Shelby Rogers, Beatriz Haddad Maia, and Liudmila Samsonova.
The Bulgarian athlete is still in search of her first win in the main draw of a competition in 2023. She lost to Bencic in the first round of the Australian Open. In the Lyon Open, Tomova crashed out in the first round of qualifying after losing to Erika Andreeva. Tomova made it to the main draw in the Linz Open with wins against Barbara Haas and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. The 27-year-old eventually lost in the first round of the main draw against Marketa Vondrousova.
Tomova managed to defeat Lauren Davis and Madison Brengle to progress to the main draw. Tomova will go into the match as the underdog but a favorable result against Bencic will surely give her a lot of confidence going forward.
Belinda Bencic has an unblemished head-to-head record of 2-0 against Viktoriya Tomova. The Swiss athlete defeated Tomova in their most recent encounter in the 2023 Australian Open in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.
Prediction: Belinda Bencic to win in three sets.
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